One Would Think
by ViolaFable
Summary: Panicking Hermione cast a few diagnosis spells. She didn't know how much she would be able to do because even St Mungo's struggled to heal Arthur.


Disclaimer: These characters and scenarios belong to JK Rowling.

**Chapter 1 – It's Done**

Hermione was sitting beneath a tree by the lake. She was sitting thinking about what was going to happen now that Voldemort was defeated. Up at the castle celebrations could be heard. People were partying as they weren't able to do for the past two years when Voldemort was at his strongest.

She sighed. She was tired and all she wanted to do was be alone. Hermione was confused, Ron had kissed her and while she happy that he at last realized how he felt about her, she realized that the kiss was, well, not really what she expected. It was, to put it plainly, boring. It was not the orchestra in your ears, the rest of the world melts away moment she was expecting. The peace was broken by the steady crunch, crunch, crunch of the grass behind her. Someone was approaching. _Bloody hell!_ She just wanted to be left alone!

"Hermione, Love, why are you sitting out here?" Ron asked, plopping down next to her, putting his arm around her and pulling her close.

Hermione stiffened. "I just needed to be alone Ronald."

"Why now? Come on everybody is celebrating! It's one huge party up at the castle," he tried to convince her.

"I can't Ron. Too many people died tonight, too many risked their lives so we can live on in safety. I just need to be alone," she repeated and hoped he would really leave her alone. But knowing Ron, he probably wouldn't.

"Well it's not like we will be able to bring them back and the Butterbeer is getting warm. Besides who would miss a git like Snape? I'm going to go and enjoy _my _life. See you later Hermione" Ron retorted as he got up and stalked off.

Snape! Harry said he was in the shrieking shack! _Oh fuck! _How could they have forgotten about him? She got up and sprinted toward the Whomping Willow. She picked up a nearby branch and then pressed the knot so she could pass the tree. She went down the dark damp corridor as quickly as her legs would carry her. At last she reached the shack and started racing up to the second floor. She banged doors open as she ran, searching room by room.

Finally, after the third door she tried, she saw him, laying on the floor, blood surrounding him. He was so pale. She dropped to her knees and started feeling for a pulse. It was there, faint, but there.

Panicking Hermione cast a few diagnosis spells. She didn't know how much she would be able to do because even St Mungo's struggled to heal Arthur after Nagini bit him. She opened her purse and took out a blood replenishing potion, opened the stopper and started to drip the potion into his mouth while massaging his throat to make him swallow.

She looked at him and decided he looked as though he had more colour, but that could also just be her overactive imagination. She poured dittany in the vicious red bite marks and flinched as purple smoke came out of the wounds. She nearly had a heart attack when he moved.

"Pocket…" he rasped.

Pocket? What about the pocket? She checked her pockets but felt nothing. Confused she looked at him.

"My …. p…p…pocket" he rasped again.

She looked at his robes and started to pat his sides to find his pockets. She stopped when she felt something hard. She took out what was a small vial containing a glowing electric blue liquid.

"This? " she asked.

"Must drink" he tried to grab the vial, but he was too weak and failed miserably. She opened the vial and started to drip the potion in his mouth. As soon as the last drop entered his mouth he started convulsing.

"Oh fuck! I killed him!" Hermione screamed. This vial could contain a potent poison. This was so not good, she should never have trusted the damn bastard. She started pacing muttering "What am I going to do?" over and over again.

"Maybe sit down before you wear a path in the floor," a solid velvet voice stated.

Hermione screamed and promptly fainted.

_Just what I need_, Severus thought. A hysterical witch as he deftly caught her. He let her down gently and enervated her.

"Miss Granger, are you ok?" he enquired.

"You aren't dead? I didn't kill you?" she asked.

"No, I am very much alive. No thanks to you" he answered.

"But how?" she continued, looking confused.

" I knew there might be a possibility that Nagini would bite someone again sometime, so I developed an antidote potion and kept one dosage with me at all times" he explained in his teacher's voice.

"Oh, " Hermione sat and thought about what just happened. Snape nearly died. She thought she killed him, but actually saved his life by giving him a potion he brewed, which even St Mungo's couldn't manage. The man was brilliant.

"Miss Granger" he prodded.

"Hermione" she responded.

"Hermione, are you all right?" He needed to know if the witch was ok. He knew how much she has been through in the past few months. He moved closer, kneeling in front of her and looking into her eyes. He was surprised when he saw tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Hermione?"

"How could you?" she whispered.

"I don't understand."

"I thought I killed you," the whisper was barely audible this time.

"I am sorry Hermione, but I was hardly in any shape to discuss what was about to happen" he stated.

"I know, but I still got one hell of a scare!" she said her voice rising to the end.

"Why did you even come back? Why didn't you let me die?" Severus knew he was pushing his luck, the witch was very emotional but he _had_ to know why.

"Why shouldn't I? You did so much in this war. You did more for me than even Harry and Ron. You deserve to live now. More so than anybody else. You deserve a peaceful life." She recited the story.

It sounded as though she said it a lot he noticed. Either she was emotionally spent or saving his life meant nothing to her and it was just part of a day's work in her life. Save the wizarding world. What is one more person?

"I'm glad you believe that Hermione, but I am sure you are the only one who does. No-one will be even remotely happy to see me, I can promise you." He sat looking down at the floor, he fell back and scooted with his back to the wall, sitting next to her. They were both bathed in the pale blue moonlight. It gave the room an eerie glow and made the shadows seem alive.

"Are you happy I came looking for you?" she whispered, afraid to break the silence and offend the shadows.

"Does it make any sense when I say that I really do not know?" he answered her question with one of his own.

"I know what you mean," she replied.

How could she know what was going through his brain? Severus was more confused than he has ever been in his life and he has seen a great many confusing things. Sure, she was part of the three _extraordinary _people who saved the day, but how can that compare to the twenty years of torture he went through?

"How?" slipped out before he could stop himself.

"Well," she started, "the rest of the people are up at the castle celebrating and getting drunk. But I don't know whether I should be happy that Voldemort died, or sad because of all the people who sacrificed so much, I mean, some even gave their lives to the cause of defeating him. And I, I contributed so little, and everybody seems to think that I am some sort of hero, but the fact is, there are greater hero's than me out there, people who have been dedicated to this since before I was born. And no-one sees them, or recognizes them. And then I think of Ron and he so happy to be in the spotlight at last – he is enjoying the fame. I just want to be alone and forget about everything. It's all lopsided"

She had a point, and this meant she was actually thinking about his twenty years of suffering. He sighed. She is the brightest witch of the age – he should have known this would end in some internal conflict. He felt the same.

"I know what you mean" he replied.

"You should" She answered.

Silence fell again between the two. He didn't like the silence. He wanted to scream his frustration out to the world. He wanted to tell all the good for nothing _hero's_ who stood like saints, unblemished and untarnished what it is like to be a true hero of the light. To suffer for the cause. It was what was bothering her as well.

"I don't know what to do" she whispered.

Now Severus was confused.

"About what Hermione?" he asked.

"Professor Snape..." she began. "Severus" he interrupted. Fair is fair he presumed. And she did save his life.

"Severus, it's nothing really. Just a silly problem" she answered. _How could I be so stupid to let that slip?_ She was sitting thinking about Ron again, and that blasted silly kiss which made him presume they were now a couple. Ooh, imagine the news headlines : _Famous couple weds – they defeated Voldemort, what next?_ Ron would love it. She would hate it.

He watched the emotions play over her face. It seemed like confusion, which turned into anger and then to sadness. Something was bothering her.

"It must be something to have you frown like that" he stated. Hermione sighed. She would have to tell him, she supposed.

"It really is a stupid thing. Ron kissed me" she started. Severus watched her intently. The confusion was back as she was thinking about what happened.

"One should think that kisses make a person happy, ecstatic even" he said, cursing himself for becoming the hard man he was instantly. She noticed it, his relaxed demeanour disappeared and he became distant.

"I think it's supposed to, but this just angered me" she continued.

_What?_ Hermione has had her eye on Ron for as long as Severus could remember. This required further investigation. Did he hurt her? If he violated her, Severus would not be held accountable for his actions.

"After how long, now that he is happy with himself and the fame he acquired, the combined fame we both now have will make us very rich, now he decides I am good enough for him. Never before. And well, I might be silly, but I always thought a kiss would, you know, do something to me. But it didn't…" she answered with a sigh.

Severus visibly relaxed. He wasn't comfortable with intimacies of other people, but he could help here. He counseled many Slytherins on the same thing.

"So you are worried he only wants you because you are now famous?" he asked.

"That, although it is a concern is not the main thing," she replied.

He merely looked at her waiting for her to continue.

"It.." she started to blush, " it was - as odd as this sounds – boring. And it shouldn't be, should it? Otherwise why would people then rave about passionate kisses?"

Severus now had a problem. Because even though he heartily agreed with her sentiments, he could not answer her out of personal experience.

"What are you going to do then?" he asked.

"Logic tells me to tell him we are not together – he just assumed that – which also makes me angry, and to tell him it will never ever work. I must marry for love, that is the only way in which I will be happy! But then, if I pass up this chance, how will I know if I ever will have it again?"

Severus wanted to smile. She reminded him of himself when he was her age. But he dared not risk the wrath of the witch sitting next to him.

"Hermione, you must always hope. And never settle for less than the best," he answered, conscious of a empty pit in his stomach. He was thinking about his own shortcomings. It was an insanely long list.

"You too Severus," she said looking sideways at him as though she was reading his thoughts.

He sat looking at her, the way her hair fell over her shoulder, forming soft ringlets in tones of brown and black. He took in the silver sheen of her skin and her red lips which stood out in the moonlight. She was beautiful. Her gaze was intense, the spark in her eyes communicating her thoughts to him.

"Thank you" he whispered.

"For what?" she asked.

"For saving my life" he replied.

"Oh, that" she turned her head sideways.

"You know I now owe you a life debt, one I must say, I do not mind in the least" he said, looking straight ahead and avoiding her gaze.

"You know I will never call on that Severus" she told him, reaching out to touch his arm softly.

Severus sat like a statue. Her soft, feather light caress was causing goose bumps on his arm, which travelled through his body, awakening it to senses long forgotten.

"You know, when we get back and it becomes known that you have saved me, you will be more famous, either as the one who saved a dying man or because you helped the bastard who teaches potions. Some will love you more and other might just hate you for it" he said, trying to make a joke but failing miserably. It was the truth and they both knew it.

"At least I can now get an O in my NEWT as there is a proper potions master at the school again" she stated as if it was a fact memorized from an encyclopaedia.

He lifted on eyebrow and looked at her face.

"You are coming back to school? Why?" he asked.

"Because, I never ever want it said that I got a job because I am Hermione Granger, but because I am competent to do it" she answered.

He got up, dusted himself off and stood in front of her, holding out a hand to help her up.

"And what field will be graced with you talents, Hermione?" he enquired.

"Potions" she smiled and took his hand. He helped her get up and looked down at her face, she was standing _so _close.

"I want to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making, do little foolish wand-waving, I want to understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I want to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death" she whispered, a knowing smile on her red lips.

Severus had to mask his face. She was so bewitchingly attractive, she was so brilliantly clever, so….

She had memorized his first year speech. Seven years later and she recited it to him word for word. He felt a stirring of emotions.

"Maybe I could help with that. Just have to see if I get my job back" he said.

She frowned. "How?"

"We'll see" he answered her, taking her hand and leading her through the door, down the stairs and into the tunnel.

**AN: The first year speech Severus gives is taken directly from HP book one, so I take no credit for it. Oooo I do so hope you like this. Please let me know what you think. **


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